No longer can Broncos fans dismiss the transgressions of Bill Romanowski as those of an aging linebacker who didn’t cheat until he started playing with the Oakland Raiders.

Baring his soul during a “60 Minutes” interview, Romanowski said he first started using steroids during his final season with the Denver Broncos in 2001.

In an interview that will air Sunday night on CBS, Romanowski said he took illegal steroids from the spring of 2001 to the fall of 2003.

“I don’t know if you actually knew, but I don’t think you’re surprised,” said former Broncos offensive lineman David Diaz-Infante, who was Romanowski’s teammate during the Super Bowl championship seasons of 1997-98 and during the 2001 season. “Was it prevalent in the locker room? No way. Romo was into a lot of different things. He had the passion for training and was always looking for every way to improve himself. Where those boundaries crossed, I don’t know.”

Broncos spokesman Jim Saccomano said the team would not comment Thursday night. Romanowski could not be reached.

In excerpts from his “60 Minutes” interview released Thursday, Romanowski said he received his illicit performance-enhancing drugs from BALCO co-founder Victor Conte Jr., who has since pleaded guilty to selling illegal steroids. The case against Conte involved the designer steroid THG and implicated many high-profile athletes, including baseball slugger Barry Bonds. No athletes were charged in the federal case against BALCO, a sports nutrition center in Burlingame, Calif.

The NFL reported Romanowski tested positive for THG while playing his final year in the league with the Raiders in 2003.

“I took (human growth hormone) for a brief period and … I definitely didn’t receive what I got out of THG,” Romanowski told “60 Minutes.” The interview was granted to promote his upcoming book, “Romo, My Life on the Edge,” co-authored by former Denver Post reporter Adam Schefter.

Romanowski was known as a fierce hitter who played with a game-day rage, and his arrival in Denver coincided with the Broncos’ meteoric rise from 8-8 in 1995 to 13-3 in his first season of 1996. Next came two Super Bowl championships, but despite all his success, Romanowski often drew as much disparagement as praise.

His spit in the face of San Francisco receiver J.J. Stokes during a 1997 game was captured up close by “Monday Night Football” cameras. He mocked the intelligence of Pittsburgh quarterback Kordell Stewart during the 1997 AFC Championship Game. In his “60 Minutes” interview, Romanowski spoke about how he purposely snapped a finger that he felt at the bottom of pile, thinking the finger belonged to New York Giants running back Dave Meggett. It did.

And in 2001, Romanowski was embroiled in a highly publicized trial in which he was charged with acquiring illegal prescription diet pills. He was acquitted. After leaving Denver, Romanowski signed with the Oakland Raiders, where he punched a teammate, Marcus Williams, essentially ending the backup tight end’s career.

Stokes, Stewart, Meggett and Williams are all African-American, which prompted accusations of racism against Romanowski.

And now comes Romanowski’s confession that he began using illicit drugs in his final season with the Broncos.

“I had a little boy who looks up to his dad and he said, ‘Dad, did you do drugs?” Romanowski said in the “60 Minutes” interview. “That one hurt more than anything. … I compromised my morality to get ahead, to play another year, to play two more years, to win another Super Bowl.”

Former teammate Mark Schlereth, a Broncos offensive guard who retired after the 2000 season, said that while Romanowski made some unfortunate decisions, he understands how athletes, particularly those at the end of their careers, could be tempted by steroids.

“Romo was always an extremely hard worker,” he said. “He had a frenetic pace about him when it came to training and taking care of himself. One thing people need to understand, taking a steroid or growth hormone unto itself does not increase performance. You still have to work very hard for those drugs to have an effect on your body.

“And another thing people don’t understand is that it’s not the fear of losing fame or money that motivates athletes to use steroids. It’s the fear of failure. When you watch yourself on film and go, ‘I’d have made that play three years ago,’ that would be motivation to use steroids. That doesn’t make it right, but I understand how he got to where he is.”

Mike Klis was with The Denver Post from Jan. 1, 1998 before leaving in 2015 to join KUSA 9News. He covered the Rockies and Major League Baseball until the 2005 All-Star break, when he was asked to start covering the Broncos.

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